Mega Con 2013–Best Weekend of the Year So Far!

Mega Con is the only major convention I get to check out every year, I plan my visit months in advanced. Spanning all of the sci-fi and comic book genres, you never know who or what you might run into during the three day event in Orlando, Florida.

This year, the days that are usually a little slower seemed far more packed. Friday was at least three-times busier than past years and Saturday was a mad house. I’m taking a wild guess that it was because the bridge crew of Star Trek: Next Generation was in the house all three days.

To say Friday was a bit chaotic s an understatement.

I felt for the convention workers, because it seemed like they were way under-prepared for the massive attendance, most likely brought in by the TNG cast. Unlike past years, the day-of ticket line was empty and the advanced purchase ticket line had, at one point, a two hour wait!

Once you got in, the stress levels dropped and everyone was able to have some fun.

Gail Simone (Batgirl) \ Image: Dakster Sullivan

My first stop was of course the lovely Gail Simone. It was a pleasure to meet her and her husband (who is just as great). I confessed to her that I don’t read the Death of the Family Batman crossover because some of it gives me anxiety. She laughed and said it gives her anxiety when she writes it. I guess even the creators aren’t immune to feeling uneasy about some of the stuff their characters have to go through.

The cover artist for the Avengers vs. X-Men series, Jim Cheung, was there as well and he was happy to sign my first and ninth issues of the event. My favorite cover is issue nine so that will have to go up on my wall as well (I might need a bigger office). Mark Morales (cover artist) was there in artist alley and was kind enough to sign the same issue for me.

He was the only comic book creator who was charging for his autograph ($10 per signature), but I didn’t mind. I asked him if that cut down on people bringing to many comics at one time for signatures. He recalled an instance when one fan brought him a box of comics to sign.

When the fan noticed he had to pay $10 per signature, he chose his two favorites. Later during the con, he came back with eight more. It helped cut down on signing so many for just one fan, which helped cut down on the long lines at his booth. This meant that more people could get items signed and get to talk to him. He explained that signing comics was a great way to get a relationship with the fans and that was important.

He was a very nice guy and it was a pleasure talking with him for a few minutes.

I rescued my mother from the Lego area, where my son was occupied and we headed out of the con for some air and dinner. Then I prepped my gear for the next day. On our way out, I saw the cutest cosplayer of the day and stopped to take her picture. I would have loved to seen more costumes like this, but there’s a very strict rule about this these type of cosplayers coming into the convention.

My friend and fellow 501st Legionnaire, Mark Lillquist was kind enough to come to my hotel room and get me painted up as Aayla Secura. An hour and four jars of paint later, I was ready to hit the convention. I wasn’t prepared for the reception my costume received. At one point I couldn’t move because there were so many cameras out. Thankfully, Mark and my husband were there and ready to help keep me both calm and safe.

Side note…for those of you who don’t know, I suffer from high anxiety. One of my triggers is social interaction. Here’s the interesting part. When I’m in costume, 99% of the time I’m anxiety free. That was true the entire day I was in Aayla. Even when I was by myself walking the con, I didn’t panic once.

I’m not sure why that is, but if you have high anxiety, I suggest you give costuming a try.

One thing that surprised me, was how many people came up and asked me to do the Opera scene. I don’t recall Aayla doing any musical numbers in Star Wars, so that one left me a bit confused. Someone was kind enough to tell me that people were confusing me with a character from the movie The 5th Element.

My husband was wearing his popular “Mob Boss Jango” costume. It was a joke costume I came up with three years ago and he’s loved it ever since. I enjoyed getting to cosplay with him a little bit before he had to head off to work.

One of the highlights about being in costume was walking past George Perez’s booth while looking for my friend Bill McCray. When George saw me and my husband, he jumped up from his table and asked to take a picture with me. I was geeking out the rest of the day from that 30 second encounter.

Florida Garrison Wolf Pack \ Image: Edward Lyons

I knew that some of my friends were dressed up, but unfortunately, I didn’t get to see many of them. One group of friends, known as the Florida Garrison Wolff Pack, roamed the con with none other than their R2 unit “Wolfie”. This was a very special occasion for the pack because it was Chase Keifer’s (Savanna’s awesome brother) first troop as the grunt Napoleon! Other members of the Wolff Pack that were in attendance include Boost (Fletch Arnold), Plo Kloon (Norm Tomilson) his Padawan Savanna (Chase’ younger sister) and the grunt known as Kip SS (Rusty Wilson).

It’s rare to see an entire Wolff Pack troop together, so rightfully so they were a hit among the convention goers. Since the Clones are members of both the 501st and Rebel Legion, they were spotted at both booths. Maybe someone should warn Plo and his padawan about order 66?

After about three hours and what felt like hundreds of pictures, my ears were getting upset for being crushed in a headpiece, so I made my way back to my hotel room and collapsed from pain and dehydration.

Note to self…drink water next year.

That evening was the 501st Legion / Rebel Legion joint dinner at Uno’s on International Drive. To my surprise, Paul Bradford of Ghost Hunters International was there. He gave me a hug and we took a picture to tease my husband with (he’s a huge fan and unfortunately had to work during the dinner). I finally got into bed at 11pm after a third shower to get my paint off (and I still had some blue on me when I was done).

Sunday was my easy day.

Sunday was my day to walk the con and check everything out as a normal person. It’s amazing how much you don’t see while in costume. It was pretty cold in there, so I wore a really cute polar bear hoodie by Firebox. Before we left the hotel room, my younger brother saw me in my Flash t-shirt, jeans and hoodie and he asked me who I was supposed to be. “What comic book is this from?” My response was simple…”I’m the Polar Flash!” (made sense to me).

Mega Con side note: If you are not wearing a costume or something furry on your person at Mega Con, you stand out like a sore thumb. I guess you can say my hoodie helped me blend in with the other fans.

My husband really wanted to meet Dean Cain, so that was our first stop. While waiting to see him, we were informed that we were in the wrong line. The volunteer pointed that the lines had shifted and Wil Wheaton’s line was to our right and Dean Cain’s line was against a black curtain a few steps away. I didn’t believe her about Wil’s line because there was no one in it. She assured me it was his line and with a big smile on my face, I left my husband and jumped over.

A few seconds later, I was talking to Wil. He was the nicest guy. My anxiety was a little high, but I managed to keep it under control while we talked. I hadn’t planned on getting an autograph for myself, but I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. Wil’s autograph was also a big (and we both thought impossible) request from GeekMom Patricia for a charity auction she’s helping with, so it was really cool to actually get it for her.

I hoped back over to Dean Cain’s line and watched my husband have his geeky moment. Dean was the nicest guy and it was really cool to talk with him. While my husband got his autograph, I learned that his favorite episode is the season finale for Season 2, where Clark proposes to Lois. That’s interesting to me because there’s a scene in that episode that I can’t seem to forget.

While looking around, I saw a book on the table of one of the vendors that caught my attention. When I looked up, I realized I was at Zenescope’s booth. I had to do a double take a the book I was holding because it was for kids and not to sound naïve, but I had no idea they had kid friendly material. I also met one of the gentleman that helped set up my Patrick Shand interview and we chatted for a few minutes. He gave me a few graphic novels that I’ll be sharing with you all in the coming weeks. My favorite one was the child’s graphic novel and The Jungle Book Vo.l 1.

Someone else I ran into, but have not introduce you all to yet is Eric Esquivel. He’s a great guy and we’ve been talking on Twitter about me reviewing some of his work. It was a nice surprise to finally meet him in person.

Gail was happy to sign my new book and we finally got a picture together. Her husband told me that if I didn’t like the book, he would eat a stuffed cat.

I also had a chance to talk some more with Jimmy Palmiotti about Ame-Comi Girls and he gave me some insight into the Batwing series. After hearing what they plan on doing, I think I might be picking up my first Batman title.

Another stop I had to make was George Perez’s spot at the Hero Initiative table. When George saw me, he got up from behind his table to give me a hug. It made me feel pretty special that he recognized me from the day before. I had a couple of comics that I needed George to sign and Bill was happy to help me. One of them was for a Patricia’s charity auction. When George heard me say it was for a charity, he drew a little sketch on the cover too!

My favorite area of the convention is what’s known as “Artist Alley”. This is where all the independent artists tables are and you can find some really cool artwork / books here.

I was amazed at how many independent comic book creators there were this year. I recognized some of them from Kickstarter and was happy to see they made their goal. I plan on doing a special write up about some of the creators I discovered, so stay tuned for more on that front.

As the day was winding down, my feet were killing me and my hands were full of comic books and souvenirs from SuperHeroStuff.com. While waiting for my husband to get out of a panel, I ran into a family that complimented me on the blog. It was really cool to meet a couple of readers.

My husband found me and we headed home. It was the best weekend of my year so far, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be hard to beat.

I was given a press pass into Mega Con. Of course, that doesn’t hinder my review because any convention that gets Wil Wheaton is awesome. So, the positive review should have been a given. Right?

Dakster Sullivan is a lover of all things shiny and geeky. She works as a full time network administrator and is a proud mother, wife and Clone Trooper in the 501st Legion. She thinks you should always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman.